Ainz Ooal Gown: Noble Knight

Rune turned and waved to everyone.

"I am leaving."

Eleanor's eyes reddened further, but she still nodded with a smile. The Earl stood on the steps, his expression still serious, but his gaze remained fixed on him.

Teacher Cecilia stood in the morning light and nodded slightly to him.

Si stood at the very front, her two small hands clasped together in front of her, her lips pressed tightly together.

Rune smiled and turned to walk towards the carriage.

The car door opened.

Rune bent down and crawled inside.

There was already one person sitting in the carriage.

A tiny figure.

The girl sat quietly in the corner of the carriage, shrinking herself into the smallest ball.

She was wearing a clean, light gray dress, simple in style, which was obviously altered to a smaller size by a maid in the manor.

Her hair was no longer the messy thing it used to be; it had been carefully combed into two small braids that hung down her shoulders.

She looked up when she heard the door open.

Rune's gaze fell on her face.

Her blue hair gleamed softly in the morning light. Her brown eyes, like lukewarm tea, were cautiously peering over.

Her skin was somewhat pale, and her jawline was too defined.

This child must have been hungry for a long time.

Rune looked into the girl's eyes. "What's your name?"

“Hill, my name is Hill. I thought Lord Rune had already remembered me…” Hill’s voice trailed off, sounding a little aggrieved.

This is bad. Did this child mention his name? It seems he told Si in the alley, but I was thinking about how to clean up the mess and didn't remember.

It's alright, Rune has his own high-EQ approach to strategy.

“Of course I remember, but it was Silk who asked you last time.” Rune looked righteous and awe-inspiring. “I’ll definitely ask you again myself.”

Looking at Hill's tearful eyes, she was deeply moved.

Rune was somewhat smug, thinking, "As expected of me."

Chapter 19 Gods

The carriage bumped along the dirt road of the kingdom.

The wheels creaked monotonously over the gravel. Rune leaned against the carriage wall, looking out the window through the half-drawn curtain. The morning light was gradually rising, turning the fields into a warm yellow-green.

The further away from the capital, the more desolate the scenery outside the window appeared.

The farmland is still there, but fewer people are cultivating it. The villages we occasionally pass through have low, dilapidated houses with sparse thatched roofs, as if they haven't been repaired in a long time.

The man standing at the village entrance was dressed in tattered clothes, his expression blank, his eyes following the carriage, yet he seemed to see nothing at all.

Rune withdrew his gaze.

He knew the state of the kingdom, the exploitation by the nobles, and the suffering of the common people. But words are words, and seeing things with one's own eyes is another matter.

Those empty eyes are more convincing than any description.

The carriage traveled for a while longer.

When Rune looked out the window again, he noticed a few people gathered by the roadside.

They knelt on the edge of the field, their clothes tattered, their backs hunched, their hands clasped together in front of their foreheads.

Their lips moved silently, as if reciting something. Sunlight streamed down from above, casting long, hunched shadows onto the parched earth.

What are they doing?

Rune asked softly.

The carriage was silent for a moment.

Butler Aldred sat opposite him, his back straight, his hands clasped on his knees. His face, etched with the marks of time, was expressionless, his gaze fixed on a blank spot in the carriage.

He did not answer.

Perhaps he didn't know either.

"They...they may be praying for divine help, because only the gods will help them."

A timid voice came from the corner of the carriage.

Rune turned his head.

Hill sat there.

She was still curled up in the smallest ball, knees together, hands folded on her knees.

This pose was probably an imitation of Aldred's earlier. The light gray dress clung tightly to her slender body, and her blue braids hung down her shoulders.

Noticing Rune's gaze directed at her, she shrugged slightly and immediately lowered her head.

Those brownish-yellow eyes were hidden by eyelashes, revealing only a small patch of uneasy shadows.

"Gods?"

Rune thought they were a bit foolish and a bit pitiful.

There are no gods.

In other words, no one will help them at all.

Hill's body trembled slightly.

But she didn't shrink back as tightly as before.

"some."

Her voice was still soft, but it was a bit more steady than before.

Rune raised an eyebrow.

Hill looked down at his hands folded on his knees.

"Lord Luen..."

Her voice paused, as if she were gathering her courage.

"And Lord Si."

She looked up.

Those tawny eyes stared straight at Rune, and this time Hill didn't look away.

"It saved me."

She spoke slowly, pausing between each word.

"It is a god."

The carriage fell silent.

Even the crunching sound of the wheels rolling over the gravel was exceptionally clear.

Even Aldred, the butler, glanced at Hill.

Little sycophant, you've already learned how to flatter so quickly.

"What kind of god is so weak?"

Rune shook his head, his tone tinged with helplessness.

"Lord Luen..."

Her voice was even softer, yet it carried a stubborn seriousness.

"And Lord Si, they are both very powerful."

She paused.

"I will always follow the adults."

forever.

Rune looked at her.

In those brownish-yellow eyes, there was only a kind of pure, unreserved trust.

Is she serious?

Rune suddenly felt like laughing.

"Oh?"

Rune's voice was very soft, as if he were asking about something trivial.

"Then what if I, a divine being, order you to die?"

The air in the carriage seemed to freeze for a moment.

Aldred's gaze shifted slightly, landing on his six-year-old master.

Hill was stunned.

For a moment, a look of bewilderment crossed her thin face. She blinked, as if trying to process the meaning of those words.

then

"I will."

Her voice was soft, but there was no hesitation in it.

Rune looked at her.

Those brownish-yellow eyes were calm, as if stating a very simple fact.

It's not about trying to please.